Ciaran Fahy – ‘Being a Best Company To Work For’
The annual Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For survey identifies companies across the country whose staff score them the highest across eight categories – from their leadership, to the extent to which they involve their staff in charity work. For me, being recognised in this award separates the great employers from the rest – and yet, year after year, so few hospitality companies are featured. Indeed, last year the only one in the ‘Small Companies’ category was The Cavendish London – a privately-owned, 230-bedroom, four star hotel in London.
I asked Ciarán Fahy, its Managing Director, how he uses the survey to develop his staff and, hence, his business. The hotel already had a well-earned reputation within the hospitality industry but three years ago Ciarán decided to benchmark it against companies from across all sectors and, thus, entered the Sunday Times competition.
Since then he has used the eight categories as a framework upon which to identify what his managers should be held accountable for. He finds that this structured approach offers the management team a set of objectives that are both comprehensive and tangible. Great leaders make things happen – but they need clear objectives upon which their leadership can be measured; and in this survey they are measured exclusively by their staff!
If Ciarán wanted proof that his leadership approach is bearing fruit, The Cavendish London was ranked 35th with 3 star accreditation out of the 567 companies that entered the 2011 Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies To Work For survey – scoring an impressive 86% positive score for strong leadership.
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